The new interim head coach of the Niagara River Lions is hoping hard work can overcome his lack of head coaching experience.

“I’m a big work ethic guy and growing up in the Niagara region that’s what has resonated with me,” said Grâce Lokole, who replaced Ken Murray on the weekend. “Through that hard work, players will see that I am invested.”

“It’s easier to get guys to buy in when they know you are working hard.”

Lokole jumped at the opportunity to coach Niagara.

“The owners have faith in me and I was fine with any decision they made whether they made me interim coach or if they brought someone else in,” he said. “I think I already have a really good set of assistant coaches who can help.”

His coaching staff will include Vito DiMartino, a long-time high school head coach at A.N. Myer Secondary School in Niagara Falls; Elliot Etherinton, an assistant coach with the Niagara College men’s team; and Jon Hiller, an assistant coach with Niagara College’s women’s team.

“We already have a four-man coaching staff as opposed to two and we have a coach who has 30 to 40 years experience in Vito.”

Lokole, a 26-year-old Welland resident, is limited in his coaching experience. He has no coaching certification and his experience consists of two years as an assistant with the Niagara College men’s team under Keith Vassell and half a season as a National Basketball League of Canada assistant coach under Murray.

Under Murray, Lokole helped with recruiting and defensive game plans and did most of the video work.

“It was only me and Ken, so anything Ken couldn’t do, I did.”

He describes his coaching philosophy as hard-nosed.

“It’s going to be defence-first. I think these guys are really talented and on offence you should be fine and be able to give them a few liberties,” Lokole said. “Defence is where you have to be really religious with things.”

“I am going to make sure guys are held accountable in their roles and priorities.”

Murray was fired by Niagara’s owners because of the team’s 5-14 record and its inability to win close games.

Lokole believes the team’s inability to close out games is because of its inconsistency on offence and defence.

“You need to be able to execute on offence and defence if you want to win close games and that execution has been lacking and that’s from both the players and the coaching staff,” he said. “We need to put the guys in a better position to succeed, and that’s going to be one of my main jobs.”

Lokole believes he can right the ship in short order.

“They (Niagara’s owners) made the change because they want us to be successful, and they think we can be successful sooner rather than later,” he said. “I follow that and I think we can be successful sooner rather than later, but we have to work hard.”

“I am going to work hard.”

Head coaching duties won’t be Lokole’s only role with the Niagara River Lions. Although team president Jeffrey Sotiriou was named as the team’s general manager for the remainder of the season, he won’t be involved in any player transactions.

“My basketball background is minimal and my GM role won’t really be handling basketball things,” the Niagara Falls resident said. “I will be leaning on Grâce and his coaching staff to handle player-related decisions.”

“My role will be more to maintain stability in this organization during this transition.”

The River Lions can still make five player transactions before March 15 and Sotiriou is confident Lokole and his staff have the knowledge to properly evaluate players.

“In our league, the coach is usually in charge of talent evaluating and sourcing players and all our contracts are one-year deals,” Sotiriou said. “We feel confident that Grâce and the coaching staff he brought in will look at game films and evaluate players from around the league and outside the league.”

“We feel he might be able to move a couple of pieces around and change things up.”

At age 26, Lokole doesn’t believe he will have problems being the head coach of players who are near the same age as him.

“This is a job like any other job and I have a role and they have a role,” he said. “I have a role for us to be successful and each player has a role to take on for us to be successful.”

Lokole was born in Congo and his family moved to Dallas when he was four. At age 15, his family relocated to Welland, where he attended Notre Dame and played on the Fighting Irish basketball team.

He played one season of university ball at the University of Guelph in the 2009-10 season. At Guelph, he got in four games and averaged a point per game and five minutes of playing time.

Coaching Experience

Following are the coaching resumes of the four head coaches in the Central Division of the National Basketball League of Canada.

Niagara River Lions: Grâce Lokole, assistant for two years with Niagaga College men’s team and a half season as assistant with River Lions.

London Lightning: Kyle Julius, former NCAA and All-Canadian player, head coach with Mississauga in NBL and founder of A-Game Hoops basketball training system.

Orangeville A’s: Chris Thomas, assistant coach/advance scout for three NBA teams and assistant coach/director of basketball operations for three American universities, including Miami University of Ohio.

Windsor Express: Tony Jones, 18 years as assistant coach in NCAA, including stints at Auburn, University of Tennessee and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.